Revs decline contract options on Ilija Stolica and...

You can't really except much information in most of these cases. No team or professional organization is going to give out details of contact negations or employee disputes. It's simply not professional. There is enough information in most of these cases for people to draw whatever picture they want and most do.

 

in Boston none the less

 

He would have got to play against his former Serbian team mate and room mate Nemanja Vidic

 

In the short time that he was with the Revs Perovic proved to me that he was capable of being a solid player and successful in MLS. I can't think of another free agent player signing in recent Revs history (last 5 yrs) that I can say that about.

Benny F. was already proven before arriving, but still has to show me he's still got it.

 

Perovic was one of the best free kick men in the league.
He fit in perfectly with Nickel's strategy of "kill the game and hope to score on a set play."

 

Really? Doesn't say much about our league. He probably hit 99% of his free kicks 10 yards over the crossbar. At least Tierney can put most of them on frame.

 

he was under contract but Basel let him go on a free so you could say he was a free agent

 

My main point was that he was not a player selected in the almighty MLS Draft. He was brought in to do a job. Considering the Revs track record with past transfers or free agency he was a decent signing.

 

Agreed, he was brought in with 2 other guys on trial and he was signed out of the 3. he has probably been their best signing in years

 

I'm not saying that he was a bad signing or that he was/is a bad player - quite the contrary.

I never said that he wasn't a good player or that he didn't help our offense.

Calling him a journeyman isn't an insult or a reflection on his talent level - it is a reflection of the fact that his prior teams haven't tried that hard to keep him (or extract high compensation for him).

You're still dancing around it - show me the quote of a single false statement Burns has made on this issue.

Then I guess I'm not sure what you meant when you said don't forget Castro and Noonan.

I'm not creating a story out of thin air - it's Mike Burns' version (if you want to add "allegedly" to his version, feel free).

Calling someone a journeyman isn't saying he sucks - it's saying he moves from team to team. If a guy is young, talented and healthy, you have to wonder why he hasn't stuck anywhere. Maybe it's "off-field" issues, like pouting about so-called promised raises.

From his statements, it seems like he asked that his option not be picked up because he felt like he was being denied an extension and raise that he was promised. Now, where in the sports world do teams promise raises to players 2 years ahead of time and expect that to be taken as "word"? I have no doubt they probably encouraged him to think that he was pretty likely to get a raise, but guaranteeing or promising it? I don't think so (and even if he felt they did, he would be a fool to bank on anything not in writing).

 

The only such instance of which I am aware in the last month is (this is from ESPN.com):

In a sworn affadavit to be filed in federal court in Minnesota next month as part of the players' antitrust lawsuit against the NFL, New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora spells out why he has wanted out of New York.


"In early April 2008, approximately two weeks before the start of the New York Giants offseason conditioning program, I, Osi Umenyiora, had a meeting with the general manager of the New York Giants, Mr. Jerry Reese," Umenyiora testified this past April.


"After about an hour of discussing my current contract, as well as the contracts of other defensive ends currently playing in the National Football League, Mr. Reese told me that two years from the start of the 2008 league year, if I was currently playing at a high level, we'd either renegotiate my current contract so that it would be equal to that of the top five defensive ends playing or I would be traded to a team that would do that.



Osi Umenyiora Affidavit
"In early April 2008, approximately two weeks before the start of the New York Giants offseason conditioning program, I, Osi Umenyiora, had a meeting with the general manager of the New York Giants, Mr. Jerry Reese.

"After about an hour of discussing my current contract, as well as the contracts of other defensive ends currently playing in the National Football League, Mr. Reese told me that two years from the start of the 2008 league year, if I was currently playing at a high level, we'd either renegotiate my current contract so that it would be equal to that of the top five defensive ends playing or I would be traded to a team that would do that.

"Before leaving the meeting, I asked Mr. Reese twice if he was absolutely sure that would be the case. He then told me that he was an honest and church-going man and that he would not lie, which I believed to be the case. Under the penalty of perjury these statements are true and accurate."


"Before leaving the meeting, I asked Mr. Reese twice if he was absolutely sure that would be the case. He then told me that he was an honest and church-going man and that he would not lie, which I believed to be the case. Under the penalty of perjury these statements are true and accurate."

 

Was this all that hullaballoo when Bob Kraft drove down to some radio station to talk to them about this specifically??

 

Close, but not quite. It was about the rumor that Kraft had said that he would've done the deal in question "If Mankins apologized."

Management has these "lapses of memory" pretty often. I remember when I was talked out of changing jobs to this then small company -- Sun Microsystems -- back in the mid-late 80's. My manager at the time promised that they'd make up the $5K annual difference in salary at my next review. I was stupid enough to believe him and not to take the job (and all the stock option $ I'd have made...). Unfortunately, it's very had to prove this in a "my word against yours" situation. Advice to all -- get it in writing.

 

I'm not your cut-and-paste monkey. You've read what Burns told McCarthy: namely that the Revs released him because he asked for the release. That's a f'in lie and if someone who works for me did that, their ass would be in a meatgrinder.

 

I guess this happens to all of us...just out of school, hiring manager said, no problem on getting you a review and raise within the first 6 months...came to pass and complete denial of conversation!! Of course, you don't remember, I said.

Luckily now, we've got iPhones with pretty damn good voice recorders! =)

 

This.